Synopsis of day: Leaving Israel, entering Jordan.
Spiritual Sites visited: Jordan River, Bet she'an.
Biblical Connections: Baptism of Christ, At Bet she'an Saul and his sons' bodies were hung from the walls (1 Samuel 31:10).
Highlight of the day: Arriving at our accommodation in Amman, which is more upmarket than we've had to date, and which has a TV!
Lowlight of the day: Going through the Israel/Jordan checkpoints culminating in another encounter with the floor toilet.
New category: Toilet ratings: Bet Sheian: no paper and messy floor. Mild smell but no charge. Israel Border: No hooks for bags but otherwise okay. Jordan Border crossing: One of the worst experiences of my life. Just don't even want to go there. Amman: Made of awesome but bidet.
Favourite quote/word: “Uh Mohamed?” (He's our bus driver and occasionally today we had to wait for him, and I filched my “Uh, Reevi” and appropriated it).
Favourite photo:
The Jordan River
Cultural-shock moment: How CAN you go past those toilets? (Though also the Jordanians allow smoking everywhere).
New food consumed: We'd seen these golden brown balls in the markets in Jerusalem but they were served at dinner today and so we finally asked what they were. They tasted like fried icecream without the icecream and while I thought they were pretty awful, Kerri had seconds.
Favourite purchase: Final books and resources for Israel.
The thing I lost today: My blow up pillow temporarily (Levi and Sarah, it has been the most fabulous thing).
Random act of crazy: The number of times we had to show our passports, and the distinct lack of interest the Jordanians had in the contents of our bags.
What Arthur did next: He got annoyed that we weren't able to utilise the duty free in Israel while we were waiting for some people to get their exit stamps finalised. He threatened to walk off the bus, while other threatened to jump him a la the Nigerian guy from Amsterdam/Detroit.
Something I want to remember: In spite of the tackiness (Jordan River baptism marketing) there are so many beautiful and special things about Israel.
I seem to be becoming fixated with toilets. I blame Squid. You're all just going to have to deal with this and it has actually made for an interesting investigation since standards are so variable. The final drive out of Israel seemed so much quicker than our entry one, and that was even with our stops at the Jordan River and Bet She'an. There was a mild sulfuric smell around the Jordan and I was surprised to find it such a peaceful place. That was probably because we were there relatively earlier and there were no baptisms occurrring (though there were facilities for large numbers). There were also fish visible in the river so I was quite content to stay above. There was also plenty of tacky for sale in the form of different bottles for holy water. Neither of us cared to bring any back.
Within a few minutes of that stop it felt we arrived at Beit She'an, which seemed a large complex. It was the capital of the Decapolis and also the location of Saul and his sons after their deaths in battle/suicide. We started in the theatre and were treated to a fairly mediocre dramatic presentation by a group of English-speaking teenagers. There was flouncing. Afterwards we looked out over the theatre and beyond into the city, which had a large hill to the right which adventurous souls could climb if they wanted a view.
I decided to spend my free time there in the ancient baths, which had an extensive hypocaust system and I got to play tour guide for an American couple who were asking each other basic questions which neither could answer, so I helped by explaining a few things about the bathing process. I liked strolling around the site at my own pace, and because Gila has developed a cold she doesn't talk for as long and has been giving us more time just to soak in the places. I took a lot of shots of the columns there because they were well preserved and interesting. It was, like most of our days, a beautiful sunny day.
As this was the last place where we could spend our Israeli shekels, most of us bought a few things at the shop there, and I bought a book on the Dead Sea Scrolls which looked interesting, and a ancient/modern representation book on Israel that I have been deliberating over for almost the whole trip. I'm going to miss the food here – we finished off of course with more felafels and half a mars bar each because we didn't have the change for more. Kerri was able to divide it in a really interesting yet quite equal way.
Given just how much *fun* we'd had on the entry to Israel, I wondered how simple it would be to leave. We queued for about forty minutes to get our passports and slips stamped, then were whisked through before we could attack the duty free shops (I was feeling broke anyway so I wasn't much of a risk) back to our buses. Travelling about twenty metres in the bus to the exit gate required another twenty minutes wait and another passport check.
We drove through no-man's land (less men with guns this time, more cats) before arriving in Jordan and being reunited with Naj, the rambunctious guide. We surrendered our passports once again, took our bags out and through security checks, got more stamps and stickers in our passports and a couple of us experienced the toilets but these were worse than those on the first day. Enough said.
Our drive into Amman took a few hours but I don't remember being any more interested than I was before, until we arrived within the city limits. From there, we were excited to see any familiar brands or shops (and there was a Gloria Jeans!) and observing the noise and colours of the place. When we arrived at the hotel, there was a security check of course, and we were able to go up to our room. I made the foolish mistake of climbing five flights of stairs with my heavy backpack to avoid the small and crowded lifts, so when I arrived at our room, I was delighted to see how palatial it seemed. So many others complained about the noise outside and the heat of the rooms, but we had no issues here. There was a tv too, which was particularly exciting because I get such a kick out of foreign tv. We were dubbing the shows we watched which amused us greatly.
Unfortunately our positive experiences in the hotel did not extend to the lobby or restaurant, where being smoked out was a distinct possibility. Because Australia has such strict non-smoking rules, to go somewhere where it seems positively encouraged was uncomfortable and the odour was very strong. Levi would have found it terribly difficult. The food in Jordan seemed so much blander than in Israel, and I was rather glad we had only a night in Amman before heading off in the direction of Petra.
No comments:
Post a Comment